


bloom & glow

by arrowsanonymous



Category: The Trials of Apollo - Rick Riordan
Genre: Fluff, Gen, actually kinda cute, dumbass idea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-17
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:21:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23183914
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/arrowsanonymous/pseuds/arrowsanonymous
Summary: apollo glows. like a glowstick. time to snap his neck.
Relationships: Apollo & Meg McCaffrey
Comments: 10
Kudos: 130





	bloom & glow

**IT IS DARK,** and Apollo's eyes need a few seconds to adjust. His fingers brush the coarse bedsheets under him, and the warm bundle beside him stays still. _Oh_. He's in a cheap, run-down motel with Meg.

Things start to come back to his sleep-addled mortal mind, every sensation, every memory. Meg's hair tickling his palms. The heavy blanket over them. His curls grazing his cheeks—he needs a haircut. Phantom pain from the remnants of wounds from Camp Jupiter. And, of course, human bodily functions that must've been what woke him up.

Apollo rubs his eyes wearily and pushes off the blanket, carefully keeping Meg covered. He slides off the short bed, and realizes just how unpleasant sharing a small bed with another person is. His back aches, an inconvenience that almost makes him miss his immortal form.

Sighing, he stands up and starts to stretch, relaxing when he hears the satisfying crack of his spine. Just as Apollo is about to walk over to the bathroom on socked feet, he notices an odd, warm golden glow illuminating the room.

"What the…" he mutters sleepily, feeling like he's in a dream somehow. Maybe the lamp turned on.

But when Apollo looks down at himself, he finds out that _he's_ the lamp. "What the fuck, I'm glowing!"

His loud voice rouses Meg and she turns, annoyance clear in her face. The crease between her eyebrows quickly disappears, though, when she spots what had caused Apollo's outburst.

"Oh my fucking gods, you're glowing!" The girl—Apollo's best friend and master—pushes herself up to a sitting position, then scoots closer to him. She seems to be intrigued by the light emanating off his body, poking and prodding curiously. "Okay, this is crazy."

"And I'm the one glowing."

Meg snorts and continues spinning him around.

"Hey, um, Meg? I have to go to the bathroom," Apollo finally says awkwardly after a few minutes of enduring being analyzed at three AM. The glow seems to be slightly wearing off, the glint of Meg's glasses on the bedside drawer brighter than before.

She rolls her eyes. "Fine. And turn yourself off." In a second, Meg has already fallen into a deep slumber.

Apollo smiles fondly before turning to cooperate with his body for once.

* * *

"Can you do the thing again?" Meg asks, feet up on the dashboard as usual. The sun hasn't even risen yet, and Apollo adores the way it lights the way—but Meg had wanted them to get out of the motel as quickly as possible. He sighs and let his wrists guide the steering wheel.

"I don't even know if it's spine-only," Apollo says, "it might not even work."

Meg yawns and stares at Apollo, eyes heavy-lidded. "Try it." she commands.

A direct order is something he is compelled to obey, so Apollo cracks his knuckles and attempts not to crash—early dawn's mist obscures a lot of things—and immediately after the satisfying _crack!_ he glows like a glowstick.

There is a beat of silence. The car moves on its own, their eyes trained to Apollo's glowing hand.

Both Meg and Apollo takes a deep breath. "Oh my gods, it wasn't a dream!"

**Author's Note:**

> this was written originally for the TOA discord server!


End file.
